Dynamic Secondary Phone Book

ABSTRACT

A mobile communication device is equipped with a dynamic local directory into which contact information from a local telephone directory may be downloaded on a temporary basis. The local telephone directory resides on a local communication network and may be accessed by the mobile communication device. The downloaded data is purged automatically after preset limits are reached. The dynamic local telephone directory on the mobile communication device is continuously changing depending on the location.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosed embodiments generally relate to communications by a mobiledevice using a locally accessible phone directory and in particular toaccessing contact information for a specific location, business entity,network, or the like.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Phone directories and contact information stored on a mobile telephoneare limited by useable memory and the need to continuously add andupdate numbers. Although this may be accomplished by downloading fromavailable data bases located on a personal computer, network server orother source, it becomes cumbersome when there is a need for localcontact data that is temporary. For example, a sales executive visitingthe head office, needs to have access to contact details for importantpeople in the office. Similarly, a patient in a hospital needs to haveaccess of important contacts to access services, make appointments,check on bills, etc.

In the current state of the art, users need to manually pull the detailsof the contacts and feed them to an address book or other contactapplication on the mobile device. Later these entries will need to bedeleted when the user finds that he/she no longer needs these contactdetails to avoid overwhelming available memory.

The problem to which this application is directed is different from thedynamic phonebook entries that might be automatically be updated basedon available data sources. For example, phone numbers for taxi service,pizza service, or some other local services which users widely expect tobe available, but the details are location dependent. In these cases itis possible to define a dynamic phonebook entry that could beautomatically updated by communicating with a local operator, or localservice provider when visiting or anticipating a visit to a new orinfrequently visited locale, business, facility, or network, but wouldbe automatically deleted after a period of time or when the user is nolonger in the relevant locality.

It would be advantageous to provide a mobile communications device withthe ability to access a local phone directory to obtain contactinformation related to a particular location. In an embodiment of thisapplication, a phonebook is provided that is different from location tolocation. Its utility for the user is limited by the location, and thetime duration of the visit or need. For example, hospital phone book maybe useful only if somebody is staying at the hospital or has businesswith the hospital and therefore would expire after a period of the time,during the stay or business dealings. Therefore this local phone book isdynamic and limited by the location and the time of the need.

It would be also advantageous that this dynamic local phone directoryincorporate a secure access. Local phone book data would not betransferred to a user without authentication, and also such temporaryusers would not be given access to all the information. For example, aclient visiting an office might be allowed to have access to the phonebook entries of his host(s,) reception, helpdesk, or some other relevantpeople, but not to all the information in the phone book. Similarly auser would need to authenticate the service, and set the limits of theneed in scope and duration.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of this application, a communication network isprovided with a server, which at least in part is constructed to store alocal phone directory having contact information pertinent to thenetwork location. A communications interface is equipped to allowincoming calls for the purpose of accessing the local directory. Amobile communication device is adapted to establish a communication linkwith the server and provide the server with the necessary identificationas an authorized user of the local phone directory. After the link isestablished and authentication is accomplished, the user of the mobilecommunication device may obtain contact data from the local phonedirectory while in the locality or for a predetermined limited timeperiod.

In another aspect of this application, a user's mobile communicationsdevice may be automatically contacted by a local network and the userprovided with the opportunity to acquire local contact information. Thiscan be prompted by sensing the location of the user equipment (UE) andinitiating a link via wlan, bluetooth, ultrawide banc, WiFi, WiMax,referred to as secondary local communications. The user couldautheticate and accept or reject the offer of local contact data.

In another aspect of this application, the local communications networkserver includes an accessible local telephone directory with contactinformation for the associated business, organization, school, hospital,building, or other facility or locale with associated local directory ofcontact information. The local telephone directory includes acommunications interface that provides a portal to the directory forusers visiting the locale. A user would provide identificationsufficient to authenticate the request for access and then would bepermitted to download the contact information. The network server wouldthen provide the communication interface to allow the user to access thelocal network using the contact information and thereby become a virtualinternal phone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the embodiments areexplained in the following description, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a cellular telecommunicationsystem, as an example of an environment in which aspects of theembodiments may be applied;

FIG. 2 a shows a perspective view of one embodiment of a mobilecommunication device in which aspects of the disclosed embodiments maybe applied;

FIG. 2 b shows a perspective view of another embodiment of a mobilecommunication device in which aspects of the disclosed embodiments maybe applied;

FIG. 3 shows a user interface for an embodiment of a mobilecommunication device in which aspects of the disclosed embodiments maybe applied;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the mobile communications device of FIG. 3associated with a local network;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method in which aspects of the disclosedembodiments may be applied;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the general architecture of theexemplary local system of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a cellular telecommunicationssystem, as an example, of an environment in which a communicationsdevice 100 incorporating features of an exemplary embodiment may beapplied. Although the embodiments disclosed will be described withreference to the drawings, it should be understood that they may takemany alternate forms. In addition, any suitable size, shape, type ofelements or combination of components could be used.

In the telecommunication system of FIG. 1, various telecommunicationsservices such as cellular voice calls, www/wap browsing, cellular videocalls, data calls, facsimile transmissions, music transmissions, stillimage transmission, video transmissions, electronic messagetransmissions and electronic commerce may be performed between themobile terminal 100 and other devices, such as another mobile terminal106, a stationary telephone 132, a personal computer 151 or an internetserver 122. It is to be noted that for different embodiments of themobile terminal 100 and in different situations, some of thetelecommunications services indicated above may or may not be available.The aspects of the invention are not limited to any particular set ofservices in this respect.

The mobile terminals 100, 106 may be connected to a mobiletelecommunications network 110 through radio frequency (RF) links 102,108 via base stations 104, 109. The mobile telecommunications network110 may be in compliance with any commercially available mobiletelecommunications standard such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS, CDMA2000, FOMAand TD-SCDMA.

The mobile telecommunications network 110 may be operatively connectedto a wide area network 120, which may be the internet or a part thereof.An internet server 122 has data storage 124 and is connected to the widearea network 120, as is an internet client computer 126. The server 122may host a www/hap server capable of serving www/hap content to themobile terminal 100.

A public switched telephone network (PSTN) 130 may be connected to themobile telecommunications network 110 in a familiar manner. Varioustelephone terminals, including the stationary telephone 132, may beconnected to the PSTN 130.

The mobile terminal 100 is also capable of communicating locally via alocal link 101 or 151 to one or more local devices 103 or 150. The locallinks 101 or 151 may be any suitable type of link with a limited range,such as for example Bluetooth, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) link, awireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) link, an IEEE 802.11 wireless localarea network (WLAN) link, an RS-232 serial link, etc. The local devices103 can, for example, be various sensors that can communicatemeasurement values to the mobile terminal 100 over the local link 101.The above examples are not intended to be limiting, and any suitabletype of link may be utilized. The local devices 103 may be antennas andsupporting equipment forming a WLAN implementing WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX, IEEE 802.16), WiFi (IEEE802.11x) or other communication protocols. The WLAN may be connected tothe internet. The mobile terminal 100 may thus have multi-radiocapability for connecting wirelessly using mobile communications network110, WLAN or both. Communication with the mobile telecommunicationsnetwork 110 may also be implemented using WiFi, WiMax, or any othersuitable protocols, and such communication may utilize unlicensedportions of the radio spectrum (e.g. unlicensed mobile access (UMA)).

As shown in FIG. 1, a computer device 151, for example, a personalcomputer (PC), laptop computer or other computer device capable ofexecuting a variety of applications, is connected to mobilecommunication terminal 100 by a local link 151, as described above. Inother alternate embodiments, the computer device 150 may be a tabletcomputer, a laptop or desktop computer, a television or television settop box or any other suitable device capable of driving a display andhaving supporting electronics, such as central processing unit 411 andmemory 414. Computer device 150 may also be connected via broadband,cable, PSTN or other means of communication to Internet server 122. Thesystem illustrated may be adapted to facilitate the functions of thedisclosed embodiments described below.

One embodiment 200 of a terminal 100 is illustrated in more detail inFIG. 2A. The terminal or mobile communications device 200 may have akeypad 210 and a display 220. The keypad 210 may include any suitableuser input devices such as, for example, a multi-function/scroll key230, soft keys 231, 232, a call key 233 and end call key 234 andalphanumeric keys 235. The display 220 may be any suitable display, suchas for example, a touch screen display or graphical user interface. Thedisplay may be integral to the device 200 or the display may be aperipheral display connected to the device 200. A pointing device, suchas for example, a stylus, pen or simply the user's finger may be usedwith the display 220. In alternate embodiments any suitable pointingdevice may be used. In other alternate embodiments, the display may be aconventional display. The device 200 may also include other suitablefeatures such as, for example, a camera, loud speaker, connectivity portor tactile feedback features. The mobile communications device may havea processor 201 connected to the display for processing user inputs anddisplaying information on the display 220. A memory 202 may be connectedto the processor 201 for storing any suitable information and/orapplications associated with the mobile communications device 200 suchas phone book entries, calendar entries, etc.

In one embodiment, the device 100, may be for example, a PDA styledevice 200′ illustrated in FIG. 2B. The PDA 200′ may have a keypad 210′,a touch screen display 220′ and a pointing device 250 for use on thetouch screen display 220′. The exemplary embodiments herein will bedescribed with reference to the mobile communications device 100 forexemplary purposes only with the understanding that the embodimentscould be applied equally to any suitable mobile device incorporating adisplay, processor, memory with supporting software or hardware and amobile communication capability.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface 300 of the type that may be usefulin the mobile communication device 100. The user interface may includedisplay 220. The display 220 of the device 100 may include anapplication section 310, soft key functions 320, 330, an application bar340, a battery indicator 301, the date 305 and any other suitableinformation or items. The application bar 340 may allow a user to selectan application stored in the device. For example, as can be seen in FIG.3, the application bar 340 may include a phone book, email or othermessaging application, a calendar, video player, printing function andany other suitable applications. The user may use the scroll ornavigation key 230 to scroll through and select an application from theapplication bar 340. In alternate embodiments the applications may bescrolled through and selected in any suitable manner such as, forexample, via a menu of the device or with a stylus interacting with atouch screen display.

In the example of FIG. 3 the calendar function is selected forpresentation on the display 220. The user's calendar entries may bepresented in the application section for viewing or modification by theuser. In this example, the application section 310, soft key functions320, 330, an application bar 340, a battery indicator 301, the date 305will collectively be referred to herein as the native application 360(e.g. the native application is the display screen that is presented onthe display before the user activates a transparent applicationfunctionality of the device as will be described in greater detailbelow). In alternate embodiments, the native application may be anysuitable portion of the display screen including any suitableapplication that is running on the device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile telecommunicationterminal 100 within a local communications network according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. A transceiver 410 is usedfor communicating with a base station 402 via an antenna 411. The basestation 402 may be in communication via a local communications network(not shown) to a local phone directory server 405 via link 404.Communication with local phone directory server 405 could also beestablished by a secondary radio interface 406, such as blue tooth,infrared, or other means via antenna 408 and link 403. As indicated inFIG. 1 the communications may also be established through other means,e.g. a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The terminal 100 andthe network in which the terminal is operating are generally adapted tosupport IP traffic, for example, WLAN, BT, UWB, Wifi, WiMax,IP-Pass-through and other wireless or wired interfaces forcommunication.

Within mobile communication device 100, a control unit 420 is coupled tothe transceiver 410. The control unit 420 may comprise signal processingcircuitry in order to process e.g. voice data and message data (e.g. SMSor MMS) from a user of the mobile telecommunication terminal 100 andprovide the transceiver 410 with the processed data for transmission tothe base station 402 or other destinations. Likewise, the control unit420 may comprise signal processing circuitry for processing datareceived from the other telecommunication terminals in order to providethe user of the mobile telecommunication terminal 100 with e.g. audio,image, video or message data. Alternatively (not shown) some or all ofthe signal processing functionality may be provided by specializedcircuitry in the mobile telecommunication terminal 100.

The control unit 420 is coupled to a display 430 for providing a user ofthe mobile telecommunication terminal 100 with visual data regardinge.g. a specific call in progress, telecommunication numbers stored inthe mobile telecommunication terminal 100, signal strength of thewireless communication links 403 and 404, messages received from othermobile telecommunication terminals, etc.

The control unit 420 is moreover coupled to an input unit 440, which maybe in the form of a keyboard/keypad; an on-screen touch-sensitivekeyboard; a navigation wheel or joystick for scrolling and selectingitems, digits and/or characters shown on the display 430; etc.

A memory 450 is connected to the control unit 420. The memory 450 may bea single memory or many different memories implemented on differentchips, alone or together with other electronic circuitry, by means ofdifferent technologies (such as RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash, etc)which all are accessible by the control unit 420.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, the user equipment, i.e. mobilecommunication device 100 includes a dynamic local phone directorysoftware module 407 stored in or in cooperation with memory 450. Thesoftware module 407 is executed by control unit 420 in conjunction withmemory 450 to establish communication with a network located at aparticular facility in which the user of mobile communication device 100is present. This could be at a business, manufacturing plant, hospital,chamber of commerce or other location where a local contact directorydatabase is made available. The local contact database would include asoftware module that would complement the function of software module407 and provide the interface for the user to communicate, authenticate,set up, and download the contact data that is temporarily needed toconduct business, utilize a service, or generally network with localpersonnel and businesses.

In one embodiment of this invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the system ofthis invention includes the local communications network server 500,which could be any one of a number of the entities shown in FIG. 1 andbe comprised of a wide variety of computers and processors linked foruse with respect to a particular locale. As part of, or operativelyassociated with the local network server 500, there is a local phonedirectory network server 405 that stores and operates a databasecontaining a local telephone directory 503. Directory 503 containscontact information for the associated business, organization, school,town, hospital, building, or other facility or locale. The contactinformation could include phone numbers, email addresses, screen namesand other information. The local telephone directory server 405 includesa communications interface 504 that provides a portal to the directoryfor users visiting the locale and desiring temporary access to contactinformation.

A security module 505 is associated with the communications interface toprovide a screening function that would record a request for access tothe directory, including an identification of the user, and theparticular communications device for the purposes of authenticating therequest. In some instances, it is envisioned that a subscription styleservice may be provided with cooperatively responsive dynamic localsoftware modules 502 and 508 present on the local directory server. Witha subscription style service the user would apply for access in advanceand provide the necessary security information to allow local phonedirectory server to verify the subscription. The might be provided by acommunications service provider as part of a package of features.

Therefore the network side of the system would include local phonedirectory server 405 having a memory module 501 in which is stored thelocal phone directory database and application software 502 foroperating the dynamic local directory feature. The user equipment 100would also involve a communication interface 506 with appropriatesecurity functions 507 that provide for information to be transmitted tothe local phone directory server 405 for authentication and also permita certain level of authentication by the user equipment 100 from thelocal phone directory server 405. Once cleared the communication link403/404 may be established and contact data downloaded to dynamic localdirectory 407 in memory 509 that is part of communication device 100.Dynamic local directory module 508 would provide the operationinstructions for the processor 201 of UE 100.

Dynamic local directory modules 502 and 508 are designed to provide thecooperating parts of the system with necessary instructions to executethe dynamic directory feature. In one embodiment, the modules 502 and508 would provide a structure for the download of data. As part of thisstructure, the contact information downloaded would be automaticallydeleted when the user equipment moves out of the local or apredetermined time limit expires. The deletion could also be deletedmanually by the user. This allows for the stripping of obsolete contactdata and restores memory capacity to allow further temporary downloadsof local contact information from other local directories.

In an embodiment of this invention as shown in FIG. 5, the userequipment 100 would be carried into a facility, for example, a businessor office within which the user wishes to conduct sales or other contactactivities. Using UE 100, the user seeks to establish a link (600) withthe local phone directory server associated with the internalcommunications network of the business. After a reciprocalauthentication process is performed and accepted (610), a link isestablished between UE 100 and the local directory server 405. Ifauthentication cannot be accomplished than access is denied and thecommunication is ended (680).

Before any data is downloaded the status of the user, i.e. subscriber,remote employee, visitor, etc. is obtained and access limits are setaccordingly (620). In one embodiment the limits are set using a presenceand/or time criteria, this could be prescribed by the subscription, bythe user, or by the local directory server according to the user'sstatus. The data is then downloaded (630) to the dynamic local directory407 of the UE 100 and in this embodiment will be set to be removed (650)after a predetermined period, that could be hours, days, weeks or whatis appropriate to the circumstances, has expired (640). In addition, aproximity limitation may be set and then the contact data would beremoved after the user and user equipment 100 is removed from the locale(660). It is a feature of the dynamic local phone directory software,that the local contact data obtained would be automatically purged whenit is no longer needed. The dynamic local directory is continuouslychanging with time and location.

In one embodiment the contact information, would be pushed down from thelocal directory server 405. In this instance the communication linkwould be initiated by the local server 405 upon receiving informationthat indicates the presence of UE 100 within a target location.Authentication and downloading would occur in the same manner as insteps 610 to 680.

In another embodiment, the downloaded data would include accessinformation and codes necessary to allow operation of the UE 100 as aninternal communication device within the local network. In effect the UE100 would become a fully functioning local phone in the local networkfor the duration of a visit.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the embodiments. Various alternatives and modificationscan be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from theembodiments. Accordingly, the disclosed embodiments are intended toembrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances that fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method comprising: using a mobile communication device establishinga communication link with a local communication network, said networkhaving a directory of contact information pertaining to a particularlocale; authenticating the mobile communication device at the localcommunication network and setting access limits; downloading localcontact information into a dynamic local directory on the mobilecommunication device; and removing the downloaded local contactinformation from the dynamic local directory, when the access limits areexceeded.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said removal is initiated bya user of the mobile communications device when the access limits areexceeded.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the removal is automatic whenthe access limits are exceeded.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein theaccess limits are set based on the proximity of the mobile communicationdevice and the local contact information is removed when the mobilecommunication is moved beyond the proximity limit.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the access limits are set based on a time periodbeginning with the downloading of the local contact information and thelocal contact information is removed when the time period expires. 6.The method of claim 1 wherein the establishment of the communicationlink is initiated by the local communication network when said networkobtains information that the mobile communication device is within atarget area.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the local contactinformation is a phone number, a screen name or an email address.
 8. Themethod of claim wherein the local communication network is associatedwith a business facility.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:downloading data and codes to provide the mobile communication devicewith the ability to operate as an internal phone of the businessfacility.
 10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the communicationlink is a secondary radio link.
 11. The method according to claim 10wherein the secondary radio link is a wireless local area network, bluetooth, ultrawide band, Wifi or WiMax.
 12. A mobile communication devicecomprising: a processor for executing the functions of the communicationdevice; a transceiver for establishing a communication link with a localcommunication network, said local communication network having a localdirectory of contact information; a memory for storing a dynamic localdirectory of contact information; and wherein the processor causes thetransceiver to establish a communication link with the localcommunication network and transmits information to the localcommunications network for authenticating the mobile communicationdevice; and further wherein upon acceptance of the communication link,the local communication network provides access to the local directoryand allows contact information to be downloaded to the dynamic localdirectory with access limits, said downloaded contact information beingremoved from the dynamic local directory when the access limits areexceeded.
 13. The mobile communications device of claim 12 wherein saidremoval is initiated by a user of the mobile communications device whenthe access limits are exceeded.
 14. The mobile communications device ofclaim 12 wherein the removal is automatic when the access limits areexceeded.
 15. The mobile communications device of claim 12 wherein theaccess limits are set based on the proximity of the mobile communicationdevice and the local contact information is removed when the mobilecommunication is moved beyond the proximity limit.
 16. The mobilecommunications device of claim 12 wherein the access limits are setbased on a time period beginning with the downloading of the localcontact information and the local contact information is removed whenthe time period expires.
 17. The mobile communications device of claim12 wherein the establishment of the communication link is initiated bythe local communication network when said network obtains informationthat the mobile communication device is within a target area.
 18. Themobile communications device of claim 12 wherein the local contactinformation is a phone number, a screen name or an email address. 19.The mobile communications device of claim 12 wherein the localcommunication network is associated with a business facility.
 20. Themobile communications device of claim 19 further comprising: downloadingdata and codes to provide the mobile communication device with theability to operate as a virtual internal phone of the business facility.21. The mobile communications device of claim 12 wherein thecommunication link is a secondary radio link.
 22. The mobilecommunications device of claim 21 wherein the secondary radio link is awireless local area network, blue tooth, ultrawide band, Wifi or WiMax.23. A system for providing local contact information to a mobilecommunication device comprising: a local communication network having alocal directory server operatively associated therewith; acommunications interface operatively associated with the localcommunication network for enabling communication with the localdirectory server; a memory operatively associated with the localdirectory server and having a directory of the local contact informationstored therein; a first dynamic local directory module comprisingapplication software for execution by the local directory server; atransceiver operatively associated with the mobile communication device;a processor for controlling the functions of the mobile communicationdevice; a memory operatively associated with the processor and having adynamic directory for storing the local contact information; a seconddynamic local directory module comprising application software forexecution by the processor; and wherein the processor causes thetransceiver to establish a communication link with the localcommunication network and transmits information to the localcommunications network for authenticating the mobile communicationdevice; and further wherein upon acceptance of the communication link,the local communication network provides access to the local directoryand allows the local contact information to be downloaded to the dynamiclocal directory with access limits, said downloaded contact informationbeing removed from the dynamic local directory when the access limitsare exceeded.
 24. A computer program product comprising: a computeruseable medium having computer readable code means embodied therein forcausing a computer to establish a communication connection with a localcommunication network via a mobile communication device, the computerreadable code means in the computer program product comprising: computerreadable program code means for causing the mobile communication deviceto establish a communication link with the local communication network,said network having a directory of contact information pertaining to aparticular locale; computer readable program code means for causing thelocal communication network to authenticate the mobile communicationdevice at the local communication network and set access limits;computer readable program code means for causing the mobilecommunication device to download local contact information into adynamic local directory on the mobile communication device; and computerreadable program code means for causing the downloaded local contactinformation to be removed from the dynamic local directory, when theaccess limits are exceeded.